Spice of Life: Festive season a time to switch from reel to real

As festivals fill our calendar, let’s take the plunge into reality by steering clear of smart phones and removing cells from our TV remote to focus on our creativity

As we usher in the most-awaited festive season, it’s the time to head home and gather around the family as we struggle with the near-impossible task of resisting the tempting spread and eating our hearts out. Cities all over India are decked up in their festive best as shop owners have replaced mannequins in skimpy outfits with those in traditional attires. Streets have been lit up and goodies are up for sale on footpaths, while temporary stalls have come up as shop extensions, cordoning off pathways and corridors to display home décor items, gift hampers and dry fruit packages.

Today’s babies are born with easy access to technology and entertainment and can be seen hiding behind flashy screens. (HT Photo)

As a child, I remember the excitement in the air would make me fall head over heels in love with the festival season. In my childhood, video calls were yet to take off. The idea of taking part in cultural fests and relaying it live from ground zero was an impossible dream. Nowadays, sensational reels and the number of likes determine our routine and priorities.

Today’s babies are born with easy access to technology and entertainment and can be seen hiding behind flashy screens of their parents’ phones oblivious to life beyond the gadget. And if by any chance, the phone is taken away from them one can witness varied emotions from shock to despair and anger that ends up in endless screams.

To be fair to technology, the advances have enhanced our festival experience with convenience. Today, we can call up grocery stores and get veggies delivered home in minutes. The young vegetable-seller on the other side has mastered his marketing skills, topping the order with produce having exotic names. He is the mediator between the customers and his not-so-tech-savvy father, but he is headed in the right direction.

Even our house help keeps scrolling through social media during the empty spaces of the day and has learned the art of uploading and liking the status of relatives and friends back home besides discussing the Chatt-puja plans.

Somewhere we are the Pied Pipers. I remember restaurants where conversation between parents was not hampered by the kid’s grumpy nature as they were sent off to the other side with oversized devices covering their face just like the veil of the Indian women reaching down to the neck. Did we introduce our GenNext to these devices? I guess yes for when we are in a rush to leave for work and the child gets cranky and stubborn on being asked to finish breakfast, the phone comes to the rescue. Grouchily, we hand over the phone and promptly feed the remaining bites to the children who gobble them up in a minute. The Herculean task may have been accomplished easily but it’s a trade-off with a habit that will be tough to break.

So as festivals fill our calendar this month and the next, let’s take the plunge into reality by steering clear of smart phones and removing the cells from the TV remote before focusing on our creativity by taking out the time out to draw, carve or colour handmade cards for relatives and friends. Let’s get real by wearing what’s comfortable and not what the social media dictates or demands of us.

It’s time to switch from the reel and embrace the real. It’s time for our conscience to breathe.

shreya.sharma1926@gmail.com

(The writer is a student of Guru Nanak Dev University Regional Campus, Jalandhar)